Ukraine Expands Flight Bans After Crash

The Ukrainian government this week advised pilots not to fly between 26,000 feet and 32,000 feet above the region where Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crashed on Thursday. MH17 was flying at 33,000 feet.

The government moved quickly after the incident to expand the flight-exclusion zone from the ground to unlimited altitude, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and Europe’s air-traffic control organization said in separate statements.

European aviation authorities also diverted flights and imposed flight restrictions. Eurocontrol said it activated the European Aviation Crisis Cell to deal with the air-space restrictions.

The International Air Transport Association said in a statement Thursday that it didn’t believed the downed jet was flying in restricted airspace.

“The route flown by the lost Malaysian aircraft is the most common route for flights from Europe to South East Asia,” the European Cockpit Association representing pilots said. Airlines like to fly the most direct routes to minimize fuel consumption.

Emirates Airline, the world’s largest international airline by traffic, returned a flight to Dubai and will suspend operations to Kiev. Air France-KLM, Europe’s largest carrier, said it would avoid flying “east of Ukraine” after the French government told all its airlines to suspend flights in that air space.

Some flight paths over Ukraine have been suspended since April when Russia’s annexation of Crimea created confusion over who was in control of air traffic in the region. Flights into some airports, including Donetsk that was a hot bed of fighting between Ukrainian forces and separatists.

Deutsche Lufthansa AS said that it has decided on “long-range diversions of the airspace in east Ukraine” with immediate effect, even though the region remains open to commercial air traffic. It added that four flights would be affected by the diversion.

British Airways said it planned to continue flying to Kiev from its London Heathrow hub, though it would review the situation. The flights are far from the area where MH17 went down, it said.